There is known a very large variety of bags for collecting feces from an ostomy opening or incontinent anus, or for collecting urine. They have a front wall and a rear wall through an aperture in which the discharges from the body pass directly into the bag; the aperture is usually surrounded by some means for--frequently adhesive--attaching the bag to the body.
It is known to use such or similar bags--in many cases simply an ostomy bag--for collecting pus or other wound secretions arising in body cavities, e.g. in the abdominal or thoracic cavity after surgical operations. The discharge thereof differs from the discharge of intestinal excretions or urine through natural or artificial body openings by taking place via some kind of a drain.
From U.S. Pat. No. 3,954,105 there is known a drainage system consisting of a drain inserted into a wound or an incision in a body surface, and a collecting bag having an opening in a rear wall, said opening at its edges provided with suitable, normally adhesive means for attaching the bag around the wound or incision. Opposite the opening in the rear wall there is also an opening in the front wall through which the drain may be manipulated and optionally replaced. The opening in the front wall is surrounded by suitably rigid wall parts to which a rigid or semi-rigid, normally dome-shaped cap may be affixed; it is normally affixed to the front wall of the bag and is preferably transparent so as to allow inspection of the drain through the cap, which is removed when the drain is to be manipulated. Besides being relatively costly, the construction has the disadvantage that it is difficult to maintain sterile conditions when the drain is to be manipulated, precisely because the cap must be taken off.
From FR patent specification No. 1,513,360 there is known a catheter system wherein a thin plastic bag is secured to a holder for a cannula adapted to prick a hole in the skin and a vein and through which the catheter is inserted into the vein, said plastic bag surrounding the catheter prior to the insertion. The bag is removed when the catheter has been inserted since its purpose is to ensure sterility during the insertion but not to collect material which might flow out through the catheter.
The opening in the body through which a wound drain has been positioned is usually formed surgically; it may be the very surgically formed opening which has been used for the surgical operation, or a separate incision placed in the immediate proximity thereof. When the drain has been placed and possibly fixed in a definite position, the collecting bag is positioned and is often, like ostomy bags, adhesively attached to the skin around the site of the insertion of the drain.
In the drainage of operation wounds, it is very important that the drain does not slide into the body. It is also important that it does not unintentionally slide out of it. And finally, it is in most cases desirable that one can remove the drain gradually, e.g. at 2-3 cm per day, in order to thereby render a progressive tissue consolidation possible.
When the bag has been positioned it should preferably not be taken away before the drain and the bag are to be removed definitively because any temporary removal of the bag involves a risk of infecting the operation wound. In other words, it is desirable to be able to manipulate the drain from outside the bag, without removing the bag or altering its position. With known bags such a manipulation of drains from outside causes considerable difficulties. The two walls of the bag are identical apart from the opening through which excretions enter it, have identical outer shape and in the flat state of the bag lie smoothly against one another. If with the fingers or a tool one grips a portion of the front wall of the bag opposite the drain and hereby grips the drain in order to manipulate it, a pull will necessarily be caused in the front wall of the bag and the edge portion where it is welded to the rear wall, and the latter will bend towards the manipulating person and thereby exert a pull in the means with which it is attached to the skin of the patient. Apart from this, the manipulation in itself is difficult under these circumstances and it is impeded further by the fact that the bag film is smooth and therefore easily slides relative the drain during the manipulation thereof, which may render a precise manipulation difficult.